Screenwriters’ archive gift to Borthwick Institute
Posted on 19 November 2009
They are regular visitors to the University where they teach students in the Department of Theatre, Film and Television.
This generous gesture by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran adds a much-needed comedy dimension to our holdings of modern dramatists and playwrights
Chris Webb
Staff at the Borthwick will catalogue the Marks and Gran archive which runs to 30 boxes of material. It contains first and second drafts and final scripts for television series such as Goodnight Sweetheart and My Blue Heaven, as well as a wealth of supporting material. It also includes research notes for Laurence Marks’s documentary on the Moorgate Tube disaster in which his father died.
Once the archive is catalogued it will be internationally networked as part of the Higher Education Archives Hub.
Maurice Gran “We didn’t realise we had an archive, but as hoarders we had collected a lot of stuff over the years. We didn’t want to just hand it over and that be the end of the matter. By getting involved with teaching as well it makes the gesture far more meaningful.”
Lawrence Marks “We hope that by seeing handwritten notes, first and second drafts of scripts people who access the archive will learn more about the writing process and how ideas are developed into production. It’s also interesting to see the transition from typewriters to computers, which we moved to very early on.”
Mike Cordner, Ken Dixon Professor of Drama in the Department of Theatre, Film and Television said: “The generous gift of the Marks and Gran archive to the Samuel Storey
Collection in the Borthwick Institute makes available to the Department of Theatre, Film and Television a unique resource for studying the processes by which words on the page are converted into performance on stage and screen – the central preoccupation of its unique and highly successful BA in Writing, Directing and Performance.
“In addition, over the last few years, Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran have been visiting York each term for workshops with students and are now coaching individual students on their own writing for performance.”
Keeper of Archives at the Borthwick, Chris Webb, said: “This generous gesture by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran adds a much-needed comedy dimension to our holdings of modern dramatists and playwrights.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- More information about the Borthwick Institute for Archives at the University of York at www.york.ac.uk/inst/bihr/
- More information about the Department of Theatre, Film and Television at www.york.ac.uk/depts/tft/
- The Higher Education Archives Hub is at www.archiveshub.ac.uk
Contact details
Keep up to date
Subscribe to news feeds
